Monument to Napoleon III

Submitted by admin on Thu, 12/02/2015 - 18:07

In 1873 Francesco Barzaghi was commimssioned to create a monument to Napoleon III and the French army, which triumphantly entered Milan on the 8th June 1859, liberating the city from Austrian occupation. Though Barzaghi is responsible for the general design of the monument and the statue of the emperor on horseback, the two lateral bas-reliefs commemorating the death of General Espinasse in the battle of Magenta and the entrance of Napoleon III and Vittorio Emanuele II to a crowd of celebrating Milanese, are the work of Antonio Bezzola. On the four sides of the pedestal eight laurel wreaths celebrate the French commanders who lost their lives taking the city, while the names of the 2584 fallen soldiers and officers are inscribed on a plaque. The bronze sculpture, which was completed in 1886, was initially placed in the courtyard of the senate building. On 27th February 1927 it was moved to its current location on Mount Tordo in the Sempione Park.